Dusted Magazine - May 2008

Low-profile/high-anxiety dirges from North Jersey, refashioning the portmanteau of "manfeelings" (thanks again, Layla!) and walloping post-hardcore for our current recession. The lesser dude would draw comparisons to Pissed Jeans, Rollins Band or Rye Coalition, but RSO makes long strides towards detailing the mud-caked intricacies of this music's narrow history. Fluttering sax treatments (and accordion on closer "You Too") bubble up all over heavily distorted momentum, calling to mind the Cows; the whole shaken-to-pieces minor chord repetition references Trumans Water's seasick skullcrack, and really the whole drunken, misanthropic locker room presence of the AmRep ideology hangs comfortably within RSO's palette. There's too many bands out there now getting defensive over varying levels of historical ignorance - guys claiming to have never heard or liked the Jesus Lizard, yet making music with near-identical approach - and while I don't know RSO, they embrace so many aspects of how this sort of scene turned out in the '90s that I really hope they are the types who can man up to such accusations. For they play with ownership; these are their blues, they're not trivial or evasive, and as they sink into ten-minute mantras that slash back against defeat, nothing is held back from the pain and suffering they let loose. Outstanding debut. Bonus CD comes with two extra tracks. 500 copies.